End of the line for Mobile Bay Tarpons? Coach Willie Gaston says team didn't make last game

Mobile Tarpons quarterback Brent Dearman (14) passes against the Georgia Firebirds during the first half Monday March 21, 2011 at the USA Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala. Undergoing financial difficulty, the Tarpons didn't play their last game. (Press-Register, John David Mercer)

The Mobile Bay Tarpons indoor football team apparently is no more.

The team's owner, Ray Ward, left Mobile approximately three weeks ago and the organization has been operating as one big "dysfunctional unit" since his departure, Tarpons coach Willie Gaston said.

Gaston said the players and coaches even paid their own way for their game at Columbus, Ga., two weeks ago.

"When we left town four weeks ago for our road game at Abilene, Ray Ward left town stating that he was going to take care of some financial issues involving the team and taxes," Gaston said. "He hasn't been heard from since. At least, I haven't spoken with him since then."

Ward's local cell phone was no longer in service Monday night and the team's website had been temporarily suspended.

Opening the 2011 season at home with wins over Georgia (55-6) and Abilene (61-51), the Tarpons hit a downward spiral, dropping three straight road contests at Abilene (59-18), Lake Charles (73-32) and finally a 106-35 shellacking at Columbus.

Scheduled to play at Lake Charles again this past weekend, the team opted not to make the trip. The Tarpons were scheduled to host the Huntsville-based Alabama Hammers this Saturday, but Gaston said that game would also not happen.

He said he has been told the Southern Indoor Football League was looking for a new owner for the Tarpons.

"None of our players or coaches ever got paid. The last road game we played at Columbus, we paid for ourselves," Gaston said. "We played without our normal starters, but we went up to Columbus and we played because we felt that we were representing Mobile. We wanted this to work for Mobile."

With a roster dominated by area players, Gaston said the fans had no idea how hard the players worked on and off the field.

"These guys laid the turf down that we played on and they took it up also," he said. "They asked their family members to invest in this team and our organization by buying season tickets and now this. We had the nucleus of a good football team."